IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v41y2020i4d10.1007_s10834-020-09662-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulatory Focus, Money Attitudes and Financial Literacy: Evidence from Portuguese Young Adults

Author

Listed:
  • Maria C. Pereira

    (University of Coimbra/CeBER)

  • Filipe Coelho

    (University of Coimbra/CeBER)

Abstract

This paper proposes that the type of an individual’s motivational forces underlies his/her willingness and ability to acquire financial literacy (FL), whose outcomes ultimately shape consumers’ well-being. Specifically, we study the FL of young adults, relying on regulatory focus (RF) theory, which considers two motivational systems, namely, a prevention and a promotion system. Using a sample of 682 students from a Portuguese public university, we examine the relationship between RF and FL, considering the mediating effect of money attitudes (MA). To test the research hypotheses, we rely on structural equation modelling. The results provide support for our predictions. Prevention is negatively related to FL, and promotion is positively related to it. Moreover, prevention positively relates to power-prestige, distrust, and anxiety, and relates negatively to retention-time, whereas promotion is positively associated with retention-time and negatively with distrust. The relationship between RF and FL is partially mediated by MA. Hence, this study tests a number of novel relationships, yielding relevant policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria C. Pereira & Filipe Coelho, 2020. "Regulatory Focus, Money Attitudes and Financial Literacy: Evidence from Portuguese Young Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 615-625, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:41:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10834-020-09662-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-020-09662-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-020-09662-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-020-09662-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Fernandes & John G. Lynch & Richard G. Netemeyer, 2014. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Downstream Financial Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1861-1883, August.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    3. Babin, Barry J & Darden, William R & Griffin, Mitch, 1994. "Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(4), pages 644-656, March.
    4. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    5. Chaudhuri, Arjun & Ligas, Mark, 2009. "Consequences of Value in Retail Markets," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 406-419.
    6. Lusardi, Annamaria & Tufano, Peter, 2015. "Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 332-368, October.
    7. Florack, Arnd & Keller, Johannes & Palcu, Johanna, 2013. "Regulatory focus in economic contexts," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 127-137.
    8. Agnew, Steve & Harrison, Neil, 2015. "Financial literacy and student attitudes to debt: A cross national study examining the influence of gender on personal finance concepts," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 122-129.
    9. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    10. Cliff Robb, 2011. "Financial Knowledge and Credit Card Behavior of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 690-698, December.
    11. Donnelly, Grant & Iyer, Ravi & Howell, Ryan T., 2012. "The Big Five personality traits, material values, and financial well-being of self-described money managers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1129-1142.
    12. Arnold, Mark J. & Reynolds, Kristy E., 2009. "Affect and Retail Shopping Behavior: Understanding the Role of Mood Regulation and Regulatory Focus," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 308-320.
    13. Hanley, Alice & Wilhelm, Mari S., 1992. "Compulsive buying: An exploration into self-esteem and money attitudes," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 5-18, March.
    14. Crowe, Ellen & Higgins, E. Tory, 1997. "Regulatory Focus and Strategic Inclinations: Promotion and Prevention in Decision-Making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 117-132, February.
    15. Norvilitis, Jill M. & MacLean, Michael G., 2010. "The role of parents in college students' financial behaviors and attitudes," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-63, February.
    16. Gathergood, John, 2012. "Self-control, financial literacy and consumer over-indebtedness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 590-602.
    17. Justine S. Hastings & Brigitte C. Madrian & William L. Skimmyhorn, 2013. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Economic Outcomes," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 347-373, May.
    18. Patryk Babiarz & Cliff Robb, 2014. "Financial Literacy and Emergency Saving," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 40-50, March.
    19. Casey Totenhagen & Deborah Casper & Kelsey Faber & Leslie Bosch & Christine Wiggs & Lynne Borden, 2015. "Youth Financial Literacy: A Review of Key Considerations and Promising Delivery Methods," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 167-191, June.
    20. Aaker, Jennifer L & Lee, Angela Y, 2001. ""I" Seek Pleasures and "We" Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals in Information Processing and Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 33-49, June.
    21. Keller, Carmen & Siegrist, Michael, 2006. "Investing in stocks: The influence of financial risk attitude and values-related money and stock market attitudes," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 285-303, April.
    22. Shim, Soyeon & Serido, Joyce & Tang, Chuanyi, 2012. "The ant and the grasshopper revisited: The present psychological benefits of saving and future oriented financial behaviors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 155-165.
    23. Belk, Russell W. & Wallendorf, Melanie, 1990. "The sacred meanings of money," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 35-67, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Travis P. Mountain & Namhoon Kim & Joyce Serido & Soyeon Shim, 2021. "Does Type of Financial Learning Matter for Young Adults’ Objective Financial Knowledge and Financial Behaviors? A Longitudinal and Mediation Analysis," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 113-132, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    2. Bannier, Christina E. & Schwarz, Milena, 2018. "Gender- and education-related effects of financial literacy and confidence on financial wealth," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 66-86.
    3. Gerrans, Paul, 2021. "Undergraduate student financial education interventions: Medium term evidence of retention, decay, and confidence in financial literacy," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Cristina OTTAVIANI & Daniela VANDONE, 2016. "Is Impulsivity a Mediator of the Relationship between Financial Literacy and Debt Decisions?," Departmental Working Papers 2016-06, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    5. Manuel Salas‐Velasco & Dolores Moreno‐Herrero & José Sánchez‐Campillo, 2021. "Teaching financial education in schools and students' financial literacy: A cross‐country analysis with PISA data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4077-4103, July.
    6. Remya Tressa Jacob & Rudra Sensarma, 2022. "Does knowledge empower? A story of debt literacy and credit usage in rural consumer finance," Working papers 529, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    7. Rodrigues, Luís Filipe & Oliveira, Abílio & Rodrigues, Helena & Costa, Carlos J., 2019. "Assessing consumer literacy on financial complex products," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 93-104.
    8. Brown, Martin & Henchoz, Caroline & Spycher, Thomas, 2018. "Culture and financial literacy: Evidence from a within-country language border," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 62-85.
    9. Pallavi Dogra & Arun Kaushal & Rishi Raj Sharma, 2023. "Antecedents of the Youngster’s Awareness About Financial Literacy: A Structure Equation Modelling Approach," Vision, , vol. 27(1), pages 48-62, February.
    10. Michael Goedde-Menke & Carsten Erner & Michael Oberste, 2017. "Towards more sustainable debt attitudes and behaviors: the importance of basic economic skills," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 645-668, July.
    11. Muñoz-Murillo, Melisa & Álvarez-Franco, Pilar B. & Restrepo-Tobón, Diego A., 2020. "The role of cognitive abilities on financial literacy: New experimental evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. Entorf, Horst & Hou, Jia, 2018. "Financial education for the disadvantaged? A review," SAFE Working Paper Series 205, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    13. Elizabeth Lyon & J. R. Catlin, 2020. "Consumer Misconceptions about Tax Laws: Results from a Survey in the United States," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 807-828, December.
    14. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    15. Grohmann, Antonia & Hamdan, Jana S., 2020. "The Effect of Self-Control on Borrowing: Experimental Evidence," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 264, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    16. Grohmann, Antonia, 2018. "Financial literacy and financial behavior: Evidence from the emerging Asian middle class," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 129-143.
    17. Beckmann, Elisabeth & Stix, Helmut, 2015. "Foreign currency borrowing and knowledge about exchange rate risk," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-16.
    18. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    19. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2017. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If So, When?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 611-630.
    20. Antonia Grohmann & Jana Hamdan, 2021. "The Effect of Self-Control and Financial Literacy on Impulse Borrowing: Experimental Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1950, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:41:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10834-020-09662-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.